Former lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani, has blamed the violent turnout of the #Endbadgovernance nationwide protest against hunger and hardship in the northern region on President Bola Tinubu.
His stance follows reports of violent protests in some northern States during the protests. Some of the protesters were also reported to have displayed the Russian flag, a move experts described as treasonable.
While reacting to the development in several posts on his X account, Sani, who represented Kaduna-Central district in the 9th Senate, blamed the violence on President Tinubu.
He wrote: “Northern leaders must take lessons from the recent violent uprising in the region. The President must be held to account, but he is not the Problem or the Solution to the Problem.
“The Governors, political, business, religious, traditional leaders and the intellectuals of the region must converge and urgently come out with an implementable master plan to tackle the decades of endemic poverty and destitution, Illiteracy, Chronic underdevelopment, abject neglect, religious extremism and terrorism that has demonised the region and impoverished its people.
“Guns and tanks can suppress the flame but not extinguish the fire. The monster in our homes was not created in a day. The North should look at the mirror and not the telescope. We have the cattle to build our wealth, we shouldn’t be looking for a scapegoat”.
He further wrote: “I believe that the Police can recover most of the items stolen during the protests except those bags of rice. Anyone,foreigner or Nigerian, bringing his millions or billions to invest in our region will now have to think more than twice.He will now have to insure himself against ransom and riots.
“The Lord gaveth Aliko the wisdom, He refused to build his ‘kingdom near the desert, he built it near the sea; Behold, his Lord saveth him from the rage of the Desert Storm”.
Recall that Sani had on, during a television programme on Tuesday, condemned the violence that trailed the nationwide protests in the North, alleging it was an attempt to overthrow the Government. He alleged that some days into the protest, money, and some foreign flags were shared among the youths in the country’s northern region.
“A day before the last protest, money was shared to the youths, and Russian flags were also shared. That shows that the whole intent of the protest is not simply about the policies and programmes of the government,” he said.
“There was an attempt to create an atmosphere where there would be an overthrow of the government. When you have this kind of situation, you will see that someone is writing a script for anarchy, lawlessness, and disorder. It is incumbent for someone like us to speak”.
He further posted: “If anyone tells you that those protesters in the North brandishing flags were out because of hunger, it’s a lie. I can say it boldly and credibly that those boys were offered money and flags to stage a revolt against the Government to instigate a coup. Take it from me, there is a deliberate attempt to overthrow the Tinubu’s Government by some folks in the North here, who hid under the hunger protest to do what they plotted by flying of Russian flags in Kaduna Kano, Katsina and Jigawa States” – Senator Shehu Sani”.
